Stephen J. Laurent

Stephen J. Laurent was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1965. Growing up in the shadow of New Orleans, he was exposed to both the rich artistic heritage of the deep south as well as the many social inequalities. Both have a deep influence on his work today.

In 1988, Stephen moved to Austin, Texas to pursue a career as an artist. He chooses not to define himself by one medium, but to allow his inspirations of the moment to choose the format. Over the past 20 years he has directed performance art, produced work in music, latex casting and sculpture, acrylics, large-scale murals, 3-dimensional multi-media, photography, and is currently working as a digital painter.

Stephen is most widely known in the Austin area as the owner and artistic director of the Nightmare Factory Haunted House. From 1988 to the present, the haunted house has provided him with an outlet for artistic expression as well as financing his growth as an artist in many media. The Nightmare Factory is regarded as one of the most successful haunted houses in the country in large part due to his artistic direction. In 1993 he introduced surround-sound in the attraction and each year produces and mixes all sound effects and background music for the haunt. In 1999 Stephen debuted the first 3-D haunted attraction to Central Texas using the new Chromadepth technology. Unlike other attractions which employed 3-D almost exclusively for shock effect, Stephen produced several large-scale 3-dimensional scenes including wall-size murals and 3-D detailing of props. The result was an interactive experience that garnered rave reviews from the local media and resulted in record attendance.

Stephen has plans to add his photography work to this site in the near future. His work in photography has also gained recognition on display at the well known photo sharing site BetterPhoto.com. Here he has earned several "Editor's Pick" awards for his photography. You can view those images at his Better Photo Gallery. Keep checking back to this gallery for information on the opening of the Photography section later this year.

In 1995, Stephen became interested in producing art digitally. At that time "computer art" was in its infancy and most digital "artists" were actually doing photo-manipulation work, or producing fractals or other computer generated images. Stephen was more interested in using his computer to produce art in a more 'traditional' sense - creating original paintings directly with a digital tablet. In 1997 he was featured on MSN as "Digital Artist of the Month." Despite the interest he received in his work, he was frustrated by the technical difficulties of bringing digital art to print at that time. With the advent of the new Giclee printing process and advances in the desktop PC, Stephen has recently begun to re-explore digital art.

Stephen's current works are all original digital paintings released as limited edition prints. His work spans the gamut from whimsical to social/political commentary. He was motivated to start marketing his prints and photographs based on regrets that the majority of his work only exists for one season. As he says, "I've done so much art over the years I forget what all I've done. Nearly everything that I have done has been for the Nightmare and each year I cover it up with new work. Nothing I have has existed outside of that world except my photography. I want to make art that can be framed, hung on a wall and enjoyed for more than one Halloween season. Beyond that, I'm really excited to be working on art that is NOT scary. I love the work I do at the Nightmare Factory, but I have painted my fair share of skulls and castle walls and I am focusing my Digital Paintings and photography on other things." So - If you are a fan of Stephen's work at the Haunted House don't expect any macabre subject matter in the work presented here. You still have to go to the Haunted House to see that. - Oh wait! - You can't.

Stephen lives just outside of Austin in the beautiful Texas hill country. He draws inspiration from nature, the vibrant Austin art and music environment, world politics, and his travels abroad.

Please enjoy the on-line art gallery and feel free to email the artist with your comments!